5 question filter

So remaining, for the moment, consistent to the #YesToGod Blog Hop- Today I am blogging about my recent experience with the 5 question filter from Lisa TerKeurst's book "What Happens when Women say say Yes to God!"

For those of you who are not familiar with the 5 question filter it is a way to test if what you are hearing is from God. The 5 questions to ask are:
1. Does what I'm hearing line up with scripture?
2.Is it consistant with God's Character?
3. Is it being confirmed through messages I'm hearing at church or studying in my quiet time?
4. Is it beyond me?
5. Would it please God?

I have been trying to decide what it is that God wants me to do regarding finding a full or part time job outside the home.  I have been a stay at home mother for three years, before that I worked full time in various nursing positions as an RN.  Our decision for my staying at home was because I was working to pay for Daycare and Health Insurance. I was not putting an of my salary towards our living expenses or bills. Also our then 3 year old had just been diagnosed with autism making finding appropriate daycare much more difficult in our small town.

Then Tues morning I received a call that required me to say #Yes to God.  A woman called after talking to my husband. They had discussed someone she knew who needed a place for her child to go after school in the same town that we live.  Now I have for the last couple of years taken in a neighbors couple of kids after school to help their mom out. I had never planned to watch other peoples children. I sometimes struggle to maintain a good attitude when I deal with 4 children at home for a few hours in the afternoon.  Adding another child to the mix would not be something that I normally would consider.

However from the moment that I got on the phone with the young mother struggling to make sure her child had somewhere to go while she works, I knew.  This was God's way of telling me that I was doing exactly what he wants me to do right now.

I took in my neighbors children to help her, a widow who suddenly lost her daycare the first school year I was a stay at home mom. This new young mom is a single mom who can't afford the after school program in our district. God is calling me to serve him by serving the widow, single mom and children.  They are His!
-Does this line up with scripture?  Yes James 1:27 - "Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless to look after orphans and widows in their distress."
-Is it consistant with God's character? Yes-Jesus did not come to be served but to serve.
-Is it being confirmed through messages I'm hearing other places?  I have been praying that God would show me what I should go and then this call comes in....Our #YestoGod study has been talking about radical obedience!
-Is it beyond me? Yes- I can not take care of 3 children besides my own two without God being with me! (Even for just a couple of hours a day!!)
-Would it please God? I think so..He has placed in me the heart of a servant. Matthew 22:37-39-Jesus tells us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:'Love your neighbor as yourself."

I feel God's peace in my heart that this is the what he is calling me to and he will pull me through.

This will not help our families financial struggle but I trust that God will continue to provide for our needs and that if I am faithful with what He entrusts me with, the rest will work out.